To Move On Is To Grow Up
by Forget My Silence
Summary: Max and Nudge used to be best friends and were known as the outcasts until Nudge ditches Max for the most popular group in town, The Flock. Soon after, Max ends up moving away for a year and comes back with a new personality and many secrets. Will Max ever get her old life back or will she be an outcast forever?
1. Chapter 1

To Move On Is To Grow Up

**Alrighty, before I begin this story, please be aware that I haven't read the MR series in over a year and the characters are supposed to be slight OOC.**

****DISCLAIMER** I do not own Maximum Ride. It belongs to James Patterson.**

**Chapter 1**

I sat alone outside, lying back against a tree. The cool autumn breeze blew my blond hair back and forth like a swing. Teenagers around my age were spread about the school grounds, chatting and eating while they could. Some laughed about an immature comment one made, or an action that'll most likely cause a fight.

I bet you're wondering where my friends are. Well, I don't have any. I used to have a group of friends but they all changed, especially my ex-best friend Nudge. I remembered the moment so well like it happened yesterday. Oh wait, it did.

_"Max, can I talk to you for a second?" Nudge asked as she pulled me away from my classroom. I nodded and followed her outside to my favorite tree. The tree's branches entwined with each other and although the tree looked old and dirty, I always found it to be my favorite. A couple dozen people were crowded by the tree but I tried to pretend that they weren't there. My mom—Valencia—always told me when I was younger that if you kept pretending they weren't there then they would eventually get bored and go away. "Look," Nudge said, pulling me out of my daze, "I had a great time being your friend and all, but I think it's time we separate. We're too different. I have a great fashion sense and you're just dressing with whatever you can find! I wish you good luck finding new friends; I already found mine."_

_ Tears threatened to spill out of my eyes but I blinked furiously to hold them back. I gasped as I saw her walk over to our—no, my—enemies, the most popular crowd in town, The Flock. The crowd nearby cheered Nudge on and I immediately realized what I got myself into. _Pretend they're not there! _I kept thinking over to myself. I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, everyone was still there. I panicked, pushing everybody out of my way as I ran all the way home. Call me a baby if you want, I really don't care. Nothing could hurt more than losing my best friend._

Overall, I spent the whole day locked up in my room and it took Valencia several hours to get me to come out of my room. After she handed me some cookies, she told me that we were moving in the next couple of days and I was forced to come to school to say goodbye. Goodbye to whom exactly? I had nobody to say goodbye to now.

We weren't moving because of Nudge (Valencia doesn't even know what happened); we were moving because Valencia couldn't handle her current job and where we live was hard to find one. After hearing about how easy it is to get a job, she decided that we'll be staying with Jeb. Jeb is my dad, although I'd never consider him one. He has no right to be called one after what he did, which I'll explain later.

I must have been lost in thought for too long because the late bell rings and everybody was out of sight. I took my time heading to my history class by walking around to the back of the school and then walked in. The hallway was clear; no student in sight again! I turned 90 degrees and I faced the door. Turning the knob slowly, I gained the attention of the whole class.

"Miss Ride, why are you late?" my history teacher asked.

"I took a walk," I replied calmly. Everyone's eyes widened to the size of baseballs when I spoke. I stared at them confused before coming to the same conclusion. _Holy shit, the end is nigh! I actually spoke!_

"Go outside, I need to speak to you privately." I nodded as I headed into the hallway. She followed behind after telling the class to pull out their homework.

"You're usually so quiet, what made you snap?" she asked with full concern in her voice.

"Just figured I should have some fun before I move," I said. "Today is my last day."

"Oh yes, that reminds me! The office called and told me that you're being dismissed. Just put the stuff that belongs to the school in the back for me. I hope you come back and visit me some day, Maximum. You know you are one of my favorite students."

"I'll miss you," I mumbled as I stepped beside her into the classroom. As I walked into the back, somebody almost tripped me, but I accidently stepped on their foot. After putting down the schools belongings and started walking out, they came back with revenge and successfully tripped me; I fell onto my knees and I had to keep myself from reacting in any bad way, especially when I heard Nudge's laughter over the whole class, and when she said something that almost made me crack into pieces.

"Get a grip you guys!" Nudge yelled. The whole glass stopped laughing and all the attention I had before went to her. "We need to be _nice _to her. She's an outcast, a fragile person who can't control her emotions. We're going to end up making her cry!" There was a moment of silence and then the class erupted into laughter. While the teacher tried calming them down, I ran out of the classroom on habit and stopped when I was down the hallway.

_"I'll prove you wrong Nudge, I promise," _I thought to myself as I clenched and unclenched my fists. _"You don't even know the real me."_

**A/N:**

**I'm not sure if I should continue or not. Please leave a review if I should. I love criticism and flames too! If you end up putting my story on your favorites or if you follow me, I'll consider that as 'continue this.' **

**Sorry for making this chapter too short! I feel so rude. If I do continue this then I'll make the chapter longer!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:**

**I'm not going to go on and on about my boring life story, nor am I going to lie when I say that I was procrastinating on posting this and decided to post it before going to babysit. I admit that I rushed typing this so there will most likely be spelling and grammatical errors.**

**Anyway, thanks to my amazing reviewers to take part of their time to leave me a review and telling me that I should continue on. Again, I am very lazy to write all of your names down (or copy and paste them), but you guys know who you are!**

****DISCLAIMER** I do not own Maximum Ride. It belongs to James Patterson. Unless I can somehow form a way to switch minds and then it'll be mine! Wait what, that's impossible? Damn, I guess it'll belong to James Patterson forever. :[**

**Chapter 2**

_I jumped off a random cliff and unfurled my wings at the last second. I burst up into the sky, around 30,000 feet up, flapping my wings to keep me airborne. I did a 360 and saw other people with wings like me, but I couldn't make out their faces. I continued on flying and although I started getting tired, the feeling of being free and up in the air made me feel so relaxed. Unfortunately, I started getting a killer headache and I put my hands to my head. I momentarily forgot to flap my wings and I started plummeting towards the ground…_

I woke up to find myself on the airplane. I sighed of relief when I realized that it was all just a dream. _I have to stop reading books at night before I go to bed. _I stretched and yawned before checking the time- 5:45 PM. I groaned and sat back. How much longer do we have left?

Almost as if somebody could read my mind, they announced over the intercom, "fifteen minutes until landing. I repeat, fifteen minutes until landing."

I kept my calm (even though I was excited to get the hell off this airplane) as I woke Valencia up. She stirred and sat up confused. "What time is it?"

"Five forty-five," I replied. "We have less than fifteen minutes until we land."

"Alright thanks," she said and I nod. That means fifteen more minutes until we arrive at Death's doorstep.

I dreaded the moment when I stepped into Jeb's car. The first thing Jeb did was explain that Ella was going to stay home so there'll be more room in the car. What that means to me is that I'll have to answer Jeb's questions and then repeat my answers again later to Ella. I decided that I was just going to ignore Jeb and stay silent until Ella asks me questions just so I could piss him off. Oh yes, I can imagine this well.

"How do you like it here?" Jeb asked. Silence. "Do you like it here better than your old home?" Silence. "How did your friends react when they found out that you're moving?" That one stung, but at least I had an excuse to be silent on that one.

"She's not going to answer you anytime soon," Valencia said after Jeb reached to the twentieth question.

"I will ask you questions later on then," Jeb said; his jaw tightened along with his grip on the steering wheel. I don't know if Valencia noticed but if she did, she didn't say anything. "Oh look we're already here." I jumped out the car and purposely forgot to grab my belongings.

Jeb's house—the house I planned on staying at—was actually quite plain. It looked exactly like my old house with Victorian windows and white bricks; only this house has three floors and looked as if it was just built.

I held my breath as I took a step inside the house and gasped. A couple on the couch was having a make out session: Ella and Iggy. They must have hard me gasp because they both quickly pulled apart; their cheeks flushed.

"Don't worry, seeing my sister and old best friend kiss in front of me doesn't bother me at all," I said sarcastically.

"Max!" Ella screamed as she jumped off the couch and hugged me. I almost lost my balance but it wasn't until Iggy joined in the group hug when we fell.

"You're choking me!" I gasped; they both apologized and got up.

"Wow you guys are really excited to see each other," Jeb said, walking into the room with Valencia behind him. I was going to tell him that I missed them a lot and was lonely without them, but since I was supposed to ignore Jeb, I continued giving him the silent treatment.

"I missed you so much!" Ella said. "Now that you're back we can do a whole bunch of things like shopping and giving you a make over, you definitely need one and I don't care what you say, you're getting one." I looked over to Iggy for help but all he did was shake his head. Traitor. "Don't think about having Iggy save you because he's on my side this time." Oh shit, I'm screwed. Ella kept ranting on what she was going to do while I was here for the next twenty minutes and sadly, her plans were only for the next two weeks. Honestly, her ranting reminded me of Nudge and I immediately saddened. Ella noticed and stopped talking.

"What's wrong?" Ella asked; I shook my head and put on a fake smile for her. "Fine, I'll force it out of you later but for now we're playing twenty questions." I sighed but sat down next to them. At least they would be helping me with my plans to piss off Jeb.

"So are you excited? We're going to have so much fun. Don't you think so? What was life like back in Arizona? Was it hot? Why haven't you been in contact with me? …Do I sound like Nudge? Do you miss her? How does she feel about you leaving? Why haven't you answered any of my questions?"

"I don't think she's going to respond, nevertheless remembered half of what you said," Jeb and Valencia both pointed out.

I sucked in a deep breath and said, "I guess I'm excited? Sure. It was…boring and hot. I've been busy lately and I lost your number. You do sound like Nudge and I do miss her. I don't know how she feels about me leaving. I am answering your questions." I wasn't lying when I said that I missed Nudge; she was my best friend, but I am upset and pissed off that she betrayed me over our—no, my—enemies. Everyone gasped at the fact that I talked a lot and I noticed that Jeb turned a little red. I guess I did manage to piss him off a bit.

"I thought you said that she doesn't talk much," Jeb said as he faced Valencia.

"She usually doesn't, I guess she's just excited," Valencia said and I had a sudden urge to roll my eyes at her; I did say I was excited before, although it sounded more like a question.

"Well I need to get going now," Iggy said as he stood up; he gave Ella a hug and walked over to me.

"You're leaving already? I just arrived." I fake pouted and Iggy rolled his eyes.

"Either you accept my hug or I'll leave now," Iggy said. I gave him a hug and he smiled. "Awwh Maxie-pad hugged me!" I glared at him but he ignored it. "Alright, bye!" He ran out the door before I had a chance to chase him.

"I'm going to take a nap," I said after a moment of silence and stood up. When everyone gave me weird looks, I continued. "Hey, the plane ride made me tired. Wake me up when it's time for dinner."

Ella quickly stood up beside me and said, "Yeah, I'm going to take a nap too." She stood there awkwardly before walking up the stairs. Right before Ella stepped in her room, I grabbed her arm and asked, "What's wrong?"

She shook her head as if I should let it go but I didn't. She sighed and while she looked away she said, "It's Jeb." I raised an eyebrow at her. "Look, I'm just warning you: he's changed. He's worse than what he used to be when you last saw him and"—she paused and looked me in the eyes—"Just be careful, okay?" With that she slammed the door in my face, leaving me alone.

'What the hell?'

**A/N:**

**Alright, before I end this author's note, I just have a random question and stuff.**

**I know that Valencia and others say that she's really quiet and it may seem like she's not, but I made it where she's also talkative near Ella and Iggy (her sister and best friend) since she trusts them a lot. As for Iggy, he's not blind in this story. ^^**

**Okay so I originally planned on telling you on what I have planned, but I'm extremely lazy and I don't want to have a long review, so if you want me to tell you some ideas I have, send me a PM or a review saying that you want to know them.**

**What do you think about all of this so far? Give me your advice and ideas, I really love them and I'd be glad to use them. **

**P.S. Should I make this story FAX in later chapters?**


	3. Author's Note

**A/N:**

**Sorry, this is NOT the next chapter of the story. Please continue reading this since it's important. I am letting you know that I am discontinuing this story. However, I might re-write it later on but change it around where Max moves away after Nudge and have the plot events earlier. Not only that but I realized the other day that the title name is wrong. I named it after a song, but I didn't notice that there wasn't an 'up' in the title. So the title name will also be different if I do re-write it.**

**This is not the only story that I'm discontinuing. I am re-writing my other story, Terrible Things. This time it'll be a lot shorter and won't be a million chapters, but just one or two.**

**I am sorry for doing this; please don't be mad at me. This story will be deleted by Halloween (Wednesday, October 31), if I have power. (There is a hurricane coming on Monday or Tuesday and I might lose power.)**


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